Restrictions OK
Jurisdiction Employment Relations Authority - Auckland
Reference No AA 422/05
Hearing date 21 Sep 2005 - 5 Oct 2005 (2 days)
Determination date 20 October 2005
Member J Wilson
Representation G Pollak ; A Caisley
Location Auckland
Parties Fuiava v Air New Zealand Ltd
Summary UNJUSTIFIED DISMISSAL - Serious misconduct - Applicant sent parcel at employee's discounted rate - Signed formal declaration that asserted parcel did not contain aerosols and that he had packed parcel himself - Parcel contained two aerosol cans packed by applicant's wife - Applicant unaware wife had packed aerosols but aware wife had placed items into parcel - Dismissed for falsely signing declaration - Section 103A ERA applied - Test was of fair and reasonable employer not disinterested bystander - Number of circumstances under s103A which Authority should consider included but not restricted to the following issues - Whether employer carried out full and fair enquiry - Whether employer's enquiry confirmed that on balance of probabilities employee had done what was accused of doing - Whether actions of employee could reasonably be considered to be serious misconduct - Whether any policies and procedures in place were reasonable taking into account such things as likely impact of breach - Whether consequences of breach of employer's policy were reasonable - Whether employer was aware of policies and aware of consequences of breaching policies - Whether there would have been any adverse consequences to employer of imposing some lesser sanction - Whether employer acted consistently in imposing sanctions on different employees for similar misconduct - Whether were any personal circumstances which should have been taken into account by employer in deciding what actions should be taken - In this case company policy regarding handling of dangerous goods was reasonable - Applicant knew policy and signed declaration - Applicant's dismissal was what a fair and reasonable employer would have done in all the circumstances - No personal grievance - Cargo warehouseman
Result Application dismissed ; Costs reserved
Statutes ERA s103A
Number of Pages 4
PDF File Link: aa 422_05.pdf [pdf 30 KB]